Cage the Cat
by Coconutlove47
Summary: Kyo has finally been dragged off to the cage. Misery and solitude are all he's expecting for the rest of his life. Will someone come to his rescue? And what motivated him to do it? Kyo x Haru
1. Stolen

Blink.

Blink, blink.

Auugh. The hell?

I covered my eyes with my hands, shielding them from the small ray of sun that had, knowing my luck, found a way to rest exactly. On. My. Face.

Wait.

My bed isn't next to the window. And why is it so uncomfortable?

Where am I?

-Flashback-

Akito shook violently as he tugged (dragged) me through the door. The sickly man was surprisingly strong for someone who had less than five years left to live. He coughed as I strained against him, but managed to keep an iron grip on my arm and an evil grin on his face.

It had been four days since graduation. Every night I prayed, pleaded and hoped to God that he wouldn't come. But, since the entire world hates me, Akito had called the people I knew best in the Sohma family (along with Tohru, and me, obviously) to Shigure's house, just to watch me in my moment of glory. Everyone had shown up with solemn faces, except Hatsuharu. Heaven knows where he was– he probably got lost on the way here. When Akito had grabbed me by the arm, everyone had watched, just staring, as I thrashed and struggled. No one offered to help. No one tried to stop him.

Damn, I wished I had gotten to know Kagura better.

"Shigure, you can't let him do this," I pleaded, fighting fruitlessly against Akito. That was the first time I had ever begged for anything. Ever.

Shigure looked at me sadly, telling me silently that there was nothing he could do.

"Hatori?" My voice cracked.

The doctor refused to meet my gaze.

"Yuki?"

The rat didn't even face me. He must've been feeling guilty.

Serves him right. Watch the cat finally get locked up, why don't you? It's what you wanted, isn't it?

_You can finally have all the attention you want, you filthy rodent. All to yourself._

I felt like screaming, and I almost did, had Tohru not been bawling her eyes out, Momiji patting her shoulder.

Fine, then. I bit my lip, finally allowing the tears to fall. They flowed soundlessly down as I was led out the door by a sadistically cackling Akito. I don't think I've ever cried in my life. It was foreign, unknown, but it felt right and somewhat relieving, as small as the action was.

Five minutes later, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, Akito let go of my wrist.

"Are we there?" I croaked, my voice hoarse due to the lump in my throat.

"You could say that," he said cryptically. An evil smirk spread across his face.

For the first time in my life, I was truly afraid. Afraid of what I would have to face, and who I would have to leave behind.

And then it hit me, full force. I would never see them again. I'd be stuck in a dark cage for the rest of my life. The weight of depression crashed over me, like a wave onto an unsuspecting surfer.

The next thing I knew, I was falling forwards.

The world was black before I hit the ground.

-End Flashback-

I touched the ground below me, feeling earth crumble beneath my searching fingertips. My hand reaches out further, towards the sun, only to come into contact with cold metal. I feel around it, realizing it to be a bar.

The small ray of sunlight that had entered the room was through the small, barred window, the only source of sanity I could cling to.

So, it's the cage, then.

They finally caged the cat.

* * *

Aggggh. It's so short. Unbearably short. But this is just kind of an introductory/prologue thing. The rest will be in Third Person POV.

R&R :D


	2. Black and White

I'm so sorry this is so short and it took so long for me to update, I went to my dad's house and forgot to put this on my laptop. Sorry.

* * *

"WHERE IS HE?"

The front door was splintered to pieces as an extremely black Haru came crashing into Shigure's house. Shigure pouted. Nasty teens with their nasty hormones, always viciously smashing his poor front door.

"Where's who?" asked Yuki, though he already knew the answer and clearly regretted asking as the raging ox swiveled around to face him.

"YOU KNOW WHO!" Black screeched at him. "WHERE'S KYO?"

Yuki looked away. Black fell silent.

"So," he said coldly. "You sold him away to Akito."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees as Shigure and Yuki felt the reality of the situation sink in.

"We didn't sell him–" Shigure interrupted.

"YEAH, YOU DID! WHAT, YOU COULDN'T HAVE STOPPED HIM? YOU, YUKI, _OR_ HATORI? 'CAUSE I'M PRETTY SURE A DYING MAN ISN'T THAT HARD TO KNOCK OUT!"

Black paused, taking a deep breath.

"I'm going to find him," he snapped.

"Haru," Yuki reasoned, "you'll get lost –"

"Shut up."

Yuki stared at him. Never once had Haru, Black or White, ever spoken to him like that. Ever.

"Haru–"

"SHUT. UP," Black yelled. "What do you know, you filthy rat? Do you even care enough about anyone but yourself to realize what Kyo must be going through? Did you even consider what that must feel like? To be locked away for the rest of your life, no one to talk to, to listen to, no one to love?"

With that, he turned on his heel and stormed out the door, leaving Yuki speechless and Shigure still weeping over the death of his door.

Today was a strange day for Hatsuharu Sohma.

Right now, he was both White and Black. He had reverted back to White a few minutes after he left Shigure's, but his Black side was still fresh in his mind, screaming insults at Yuki and Shigure and even Tohru, though those weren't as harsh seeing as she was only Tohru. And he was still storming through the grass, no idea where he was, or how he was going to get back.

Night fell, and Haru was sure of one thing…

He was lost.

Congratulating himself on his observation skills, he plopped down on the grass and just sat there, finally drifting off to sleep.

Oblivious to the fact that if he had gone fifty feet further, he would have heard very, very faint sobbing.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kyo was sobbing, each one ripping out of him, tearing at his throat and his heart. He pounded on the walls to no avail, clawing at the bars, and basically going insane.

Akito had located the cage in the middle of a forest, where nothing at all looked familiar. He had no means of escape or contact.

He was going to die here.

There was no hope.

The cat sat down and wept.


	3. Feathers

I'd just like to thank all the wonderful people who have reviewed/read/seen/thought about this story.

* * *

"Where am I?" Haru wondered aloud. It took him a few minutes to recall the day before. "Oh yeah."

He sat up, rubbing his hands over his face. The sun was shining through the leaves on the trees surrounding him, casting a green light over the ox. Around him was some shrubbery…that looked fairly edible.

He leaned over and picked a leaf from a bush at random, inspected it, and then, convinced it was harmless, took a bite out of it. Finally concluding it was safe to eat, he gathered an armful and began walking in the general direction he had been going.

After about twenty minutes of walking, he was beginning to lose hope.

Then he heard a noise.

Haru's head snapped up. It sounded like a strangled cry, and it came from…

"That-a-way!" Haru shouted, pointing himself in the right direction and sprinting towards it.

Fifty feet in he tripped over a tree root.

"GODDAMN TREES!" he shouted, instantly Black with frustration. He stood up and punched the nearest one as hard as he could.

A black bird, bigger than a crow- a raven, he concluded, screeched at him and shot out of the tree, flying in the direction he had been going.

* * *

"C'mon…" Kyo muttered as he pulled on the bars of the cage's window with all the strength he could muster. Four months of training had to pay off sometime.

A cry and then a strangled hiss escaped his lips as something in his wrist snapped.

_It's hell_, he thought. _I'm in hell._ _Eternally damned. Fire and brimstone. Burning flesh._

His cat-ears pricked up as he heard a tiny hint of noise from somewhere, but when the sound didn't come again, he sunk back to the floor in despair.

A different noise, around five minutes later, awoke him from his stupor. A soft clanging sound, as if someone was throwing rocks at the top of the cage.

He heaved himself up, using his good hand, and poked the tips of his fingers out between the bars.

"Ouch!" he muttered as something sharp pierced his middle finger. Great. Two damaged hands.

Then a soft caw came from above him.

"A crow?" he wondered aloud, but then the bird hopped down onto the sill in front of the bars. _A raven_, he corrected himself.

He made a soft clucking noise with his tongue, encouraging the black bird to stay. It tilted its head at him.

"Where did you come from?"

The bird clicked its beak, allowing Kyo to stroke one of its feathers.

Suddenly, it cawed loudly and flew away, leaving Kyo feeling lonely once more.

He noticed something fluttering to the ground, and caught it before it could touch the dirt.

A raven feather.

* * *

"Hatsuharu, you stupid bastard," Haru scolded himself. It was now nightfall, and he hadn't gotten any closer to finding Kyo. In the short time he had gone Black he had managed to rampage so far from where he had been that he could hear a stream nearby.

And it was raining.

"Kyo must be feeling really horrible," he said, then reprimanded himself. "Of course he feels horrible, you idiot. He's locked in a cage."

The cogs in his mind began to turn as he now completely registered that fact.

Was Kyo even in these woods? Was Kyo even within a mile of him, or was he on the other side of the world right now?

Haru began to feel his hope begin to flicker, like a candle in the wind.

Tears started to drip from his eyes, mixing in with the rain pattering soundlessly on his face, the cat crying unknowingly, despairingly with him.

* * *

Haru groaned. Something was pecking at him.

Wait, pecking?

His eyes opened, only to find a black bird nipping at his shirt.

"Are you a crow?" Haru asked it, not expecting an answer. "No, wait…you're a raven, aren't you?" (A/N: Remember, Haru was Black when he punched the raven out of the tree. Poor raven.)

Haru didn't know exactly why he'd fallen asleep, but he guessed sleep was his body's natural defense to situations like this, when his emotions were running high.

He allowed the bird to chew his shirt for a few more seconds before he clicked his tongue and gently pried it off.

The bird ruffled its feathers. It began to caw loudly, and then softer.

Haru cocked his head.

Again, it squawked loudly at him, then more mellow, then almost unable to be heard, as if encouraging him to listen.

Listen.

For the first time in his life, Haru _listened. _He tuned in to every single sound of the forest, from the soft twittering of the birds to the blades of grass rustling in the wind.

And was almost shocked out of his skin when he heard very, very far away crying.


	4. Poof

For the life of me I could not think of a title for this. And that's not exactly where I wanted to end it, but it would have been way too long otherwise.

Finally, a chapter over 1,000 words! Enjoy.

* * *

Twigs and branches snapped against Haru's skin as he ran faster than he ever had in his life, still hearing the distant sobs get nearer and nearer. He nearly fell and broke his neck three times, but didn't dare stop for fear he would lose the sound.

The cries eventually quieted, but they had been so close that Haru kept running in the same direction, not even bothering to look where he was going.

And slammed mercilessly into a metal wall.

He staggered around for a few seconds, seeing stars, but finally regained his balance and inspected the wall.

He walked around the metal box, and on the opposite side was a barred window.

If this was the cage, then…

"Kyo?" he whispered, not daring to breathe.

* * *

Kyo stopped crying after a good ten minutes- his tear ducts had finally run dry. He was so deep in his own misery that he didn't hear the urgent footsteps sprinting closer, until…

BANG.

Kyo was thoroughly yanked out of his wallowing. He could hear something- or, dare he hope, some_one-_ stumbling around outside. They paused momentarily, and then slowly began walking around to the front of the cage.

A figure appeared at the bars, though Kyo's eyes were so blurry with shed tears he couldn't make out their face.

"Kyo?" it whispered.

The cat faintly made out a tuft of white hair.

"Haru?" he gasped.

Haru pressed his face to the bars, mouth agape. Kyo got up shakily, his expression mirroring the ox's.

Normally, Kyo would have been ashamed for anyone, even Haru, to see him like this. So weak, so vulnerable, and he hated it. But all of his usual strength and defensiveness had seeped out of him.

"How," Kyo said hoarsely, "did you, of all people, the most directionally challenged guy in the country, manage to find me?"

"Don't ask me," Haru muttered. "Does it really matter?"

Kyo grasped the bars underneath Haru's hands. "No."

Haru laid his hands over Kyo's. "I'm going to get you out of here," he stated matter-of-factly.

The cat rolled his eyes. "How do you intend to do that?"

Haru thought for a minute. "Maybe, if you turn me Black, I might be able to break the cage somehow."

"How am I supposed to turn you Black?"

"Threaten me or something. I really don't care what you say."

Kyo paused, but only momentarily, nonchalantly removing his hands from under the ox's. "Any insults I sent you wouldn't even go through that thick skull of yours, stupid ox."

Haru remained quiet.

"You're such an idiot."

Kyo was glad he had moved his hands, because if they were being crushed like that by Haru's, every bone in them would have snapped. Even the iron bars creaked a little under the ox's clenching fists.

He sneered at him. "Stupid cow."

The next thing he knew, the bars were gone, ripped clean off by Black Haru.

"YES!" Kyo cheered.

Of course, Haru was still Black. And the window was still small.

"Come out and play, kitty," Black hissed.

The cat sighed, sitting down, and waited. He scratched absently at his arm, listening to the sound of the wind rustling the leaves on the trees. It sounded much nicer, now that he had some hope that he would be able to see them again soon, and touch them.

He thought about what would happen if he and Haru actually made it out of this forest alive. What would everyone say? Yuki would probably be rather indifferent, possibly even telling him to go back to the cage where he belonged, Tohru would be ecstatic and probably break the house down trying to make him dinner, and Shigure…well, he might be glad to see him. The dog had never really hated him.

Hatori might even send him back to the cage, just to escape the wrath of Akito when he realized the cat was free.

He wondered what that would be like.

"Kyo?"

Kyo jumped up. "Are you White again?"

"I guess," came Haru's reply.

"Good, because I think if I turn into a cat, I can fit through that window."

Haru nodded. He beckoned the other over to the window, and Kyo approached, looking at him curiously. Haru leaned closer to Kyo, making Kyo stare at him blankly.

The ox brushed his lips across the cat's.

A second went by.

POOF.

"You might want to bring your clothes with you," he said into the cage, peering down at the orange cat, who was currently sitting on the floor in a state of apparent shock.

Five minutes later, Kyo was pulling his clothes on while Haru waited on the opposite side of the cage, telling him that he "didn't want him getting any ideas, you nasty pervert," and therefore made Haru avert his eyes.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before," Haru deadpanned, picking at his fingernails. "And you should be thanking me."

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO _KISS_ ME, YOU KNOW!" Kyo screeched, bristling.

"Well, it was obviously enough to shock you into cat form, so be grateful it wasn't worse."

"WHAT COULD HAVE POSSIBLY BEEN WORSE THAN THAT?"

Haru didn't say anything for a minute. Then…

"I bet Shigure could name a few."

"I officially label you a dirty pervert," Kyo said with finality as he finished dressing and stomped over to Haru.

Haru smiled slightly, engulfing the irritated Kyo in a humongous hug.

"You scared me, you know," he mumbled into Kyo's shoulder, who hesitantly returned the embrace.

Kyo laughed sadly. "Did you get lost on the way to Shigure's?"

"No one told me."

Kyo frowned. That was odd. He would have expected Akito to have wanted Haru to see him in all his glory, finally being broken.

Well, there was his Black side. And that probably would have stopped Akito.

"How'd you find out, then?"

"Momiji asked me about it. I was wondering where he had gone the day previously, and he told me, 'You didn't know?' The expression he wore was one I'll never forget. I would have never guessed he could make such a grim face. It was odd- I didn't go Black right there, I just calmly demanded he tell me what happened. He spoke one sentence: 'Kyo got… locked up.'

"I went Black, obviously. I was angry at everything and everyone- though mainly myself. For not knowing about it. I remember because…I can't quite explain it. I was White _and_ Black; physically Black, but I remembered everything afterwards. I smashed quite a few walls and nearly gave Hatori a heart attack. I sprinted all the way to Shigure's- for once, not getting lost. I smashed through the door and screamed at Yuki and Shigure. Yuki…he's such a bastard," Haru ended with a dangerous glint in his eyes, backing away from Kyo.

"H-hey, calm down!" Kyo stuttered, placing his hands gently but firmly on Haru's shoulders.

"I don't know what I ever saw in him," he hissed.

Kyo was stunned. He was just going to…give up on Yuki? Just like that?

He smirked nevertheless. "You just figured that out now?"

Haru shrugged. "Love is blind."

"We going or what?" Kyo snapped.

Haru nodded, and they began walking.


End file.
